The
Val d'Aran, Occitan name of the Aran Valley, is the last bastion of
what was once the thriving Occitania, and retains its own autonomy and
has Occitan or Provençal as the oficicial language, together with Catalan
and
Spanish.
Its government depends on the Generalitat de Catalunya and has more
autonomy than the Catalan regions, with powers in areas such as
education.
Today, somebody from Aran could speak and understand Aranese (Occitan language) with an Occitan from Italy or
France, as the differences are dialectal, like Catalan and Valencian, Spanish and Mexican or British and American.
The Provencal language is considered a cousin of the Catalan language.
During the thirteenth century, these two territories had some very close ties.
The Catalan poets wrote in Provençal, as it was considered the language of prestige. The Valencian Ausiàs
March was who broke up this trend with his poetry in Catalan-Valencian.
The relationships were so strong that the two countries decided to became one State, but France did not accept it and took Occitania for itself.
The
Catalans came to its defense, but it ended with the death of Peter the
Catholic of Aragon, and Occitania became part of the French Crown.
It banned the use of Provençal and the poems of the troubadours were considered sinful.
It was the beginning of the end of a nation very sensitized with culture.
But
luckily, in the Val d'Aran, the Occitans have laws and rights to
preserve their language and culture, a treasure of little more than 5000
speakers, and have a general council, the Conselh Generau d'Aran.
The ski resort of Val d'Aran is Baqueira Beret which has got 138 km of slopes for skiers of all levels and very large ski area.
Do not miss the Val d'Aran!